Empty Spaces
by karikos
Summary: Just a random moment in the hospital between PatrickRobin. Written for 100 songs challenge on Livejournal prompt 006: Incomplete


1Patrick was signing off on a patient's chart at the nurses station when Epiphany dropped another one on top of it. He sighed deeply and looked at her. "What's this for?"

"A patient. Dr. Scorpio asked me to give it to you and said to tell you that she needs a consult as soon as you're available." The woman looked at him sharply, her gaze almost disapproving, when he hadn't done anything. Yet. The phone rang and she moved to the other side of the nurse's station to answer it.

"I was planning on getting out of here sometime tonight," he replied sharply. "But I guess Dr. Scorpio hasn't taken that into account." Patrick gave the signed patient's chart a once over before handing it to the nurse behind the station. "Mr. Letz can be discharged first thing tomorrow morning. I'll give him a prescription to pick up at the front desk."

The young nurse nodded and filed the chart away as Patrick moved over to where Epiphany now stood, carrying the chart she'd given him. "Do you know where I can find Dr. Scorpio?"

"I think she's in the lab, Dr. Drake."

Patrick nodded. He should have known. "Thank you."

He reached the lab downstairs. The door was locked and he slipped his ID card out of his lab coat pocket before scanning it. The light on it went from red to green and the lock clicked open to allow him entrance. The lab was dark, lit only by the screens of the computers. Robin sat on a chair in front of one of them toward the back of the room, her eyes staring intently at the monitor. Every few seconds, she'd click the mouse and write something down on a notebook beside her.

Patrick hadn't seen her for more than a few seconds, passing each other in the hallways of the hospital or picking up patient's charts from the nurses station, since he'd broken off their relationship. As far as he could tell, she was doing fine without him and if she asked, he would say he was doing fine without her.

The only one who knew that wasn't true was himself. But he'd never admit it, especially not to her.

He walked confidently to the back of the room. He was almost next to her when she finally looked up at him. "You wanted a consult?" he asked.

She nodded and pointed him to a chair next to her. He took it and with a few clicks of the mouse she had a patient's lab results and brain scans up. "I ran tests on a patient earlier, he came in with seizures. We did a CAT scan and an MRI. What do you see?"

He looked at the screen carefully. "There's a tumor, obviously, even you could see that."

"Yes, I know that, but I'm a research doctor, Patrick. What I want to know is if you think it can be operated on? Could you do it?"

Patrick bit the side of his cheek and continued to examine the scan results. "Probably. It's not large, but it would probably be a good idea to start him on radiation to shrink it first, that way it would be easier to remove. I'll need to see his medical history and charts."

Robin nodded. "Fine. I'll go talk to the patient." She looked at him carefully. "Would you like to accompany me so I can introduce you to him?"

Patrick checked his watch. He was supposed to be finished with his shift now. "I'm done for tonight, I have a date tonight. I'll come by and introduce myself to him first thing tomorrow morning." He knew she wouldn't be happy at that, but he couldn't be around her for much longer. He had broken their relationship off and things were tense; he cared about her and those feelings were intensified when he was around her, even though he knew they couldn't work.

Indignation flashed through her eyes, he noted, but it was quickly replaced with disappointment. He could practically hear her thinking _I should have known_. "Okay, Patrick, I'm sorry to have held you up. Go on your date and thank you for the consult." He saw her roll her eyes at him as she picked up her clipboard with her notes on it and headed towards the door. He wanted to tell her that his date could wait and that he'd check in on her patient, but, as usual, his pride wouldn't let him.


End file.
